Jobs and Kids: Female Employment and Fertility in China

Data on 2,355 married women from the 2006 China Health and
Nutrition Survey are used to study how female employment affects
fertility in China. China has deep concerns with both population
size and female employment, so the relationship between the two
should be better understood. Causality flows in both directions. A
conceptual model shows how employment prospects affect fertility.
Then an instrumental variable isolates this effect. Female
employment reduces a married woman’s preferred number of children
by 0.35 on average and her actual number by 0.50. Ramifications for
China’s one-child policy are discussed.